Help

No account yet?
Registering is free, easy, and private.
Discuss in the forum, contribute to the Encyclopedia, build your own MyAnime lists, and more.

Diana Garnet: an American Performer in Japan

by Cindy Sibilsky, Mar 13th 2019

Much like the title of the song from Yuri!!! on Ice that she performed at Ohayocon 2019, in a concert compilation of her original tunes plus popular anisong covers mashed up in a collaboration with Shin Kurokawa, Diana Garnet -- an American performer living and working in Japan as a singer and TV, stage, radio and voice actress -- is a history maker. To some it may seem that she is living the dream of many otaku and convention regulars, but it's the result of a lifetime of ambition and hard work to fight for her position in the challenging media industry of Japan as a foreigner.

We interviewed Diana for her third year as a panelist and musical guest at Ohayocon, celebrating its 19th year this January in Columbus, Ohio. We discussed her multifaceted career, her journey and personal evolution, the challenges of living and working abroad, and how anime and conventions are not only responsible for her career, but likely for her life itself.

Garnet grew up around the Washington D.C. area as the result of a couple otaku (before the word was commonly used in this manner or conventions were a thing in the U.S.) coming together through their love for anime and sci-fi in the 1980s. “My father was a big fan of the space-themed anime shows like Macross and Space Cruiser Yamato (aka Star Blazers), among others,” Garnet reveals, “He and my mom bonded over their mutual affection for Gatchaman (aka Battle of Planets) and their first date was a sci-fi convention, so you could say I was -- quite literally -- born out of and into convention culture.” This continued throughout her childhood. To Diana and her brother, “Anime and sci-fi were our Disney.” But her family's tastes -- considered much less mainstream at the time -- turned the heads of teachers and supervisors whose reactions set the Garnet kids up for bullying and being labeled as 'odd.'

“I didn't think anything was wrong or different until I brought the film My Neighbor Totoro to daycare and they wouldn't let us watch it because of the scene with the father and daughters taking a bath,” Garnet recalls, “I knew it was innocent and part of the culture, but they didn't understand. They finally let me play Kiki's Delivery Service, but also looked down on her old-fashioned bloomers showing when her skirt blows in the wind.” But these judgments and misunderstandings didn't deter her from diving head-first into the culture and content she was raised on and adored. They only propelled Diana to shape her life around those passions. Singing was always a part of her life, as her mother is an accomplished operatic singer who even performs with convention choirs. Both possess around a 3.5 octave range.

The eureka moment happened around age seven, when Diana heard the song ‘Yuzurenai Negai’ -- the opening song from Magic Knight Rayearth, sung by Naomi Tamura. “The song affected me deeply on so many levels,” Garnet relayed, “It's a third-person song about never letting go of your dreams, plus the show was made by Clamp, a group of female manga artists whose works are all about girls kicking butt.” But the biggest effect on Diana was the singer herself, for it was the first time she heard a voice like her own -- a much higher range than she was used to hearing from American singers. Suddenly it all clicked. “From then on, I knew this was my path and I set about seeking to confirm if Japan was really the place I wanted and needed to be to do this.” That determination led Garnet to discover the depths of her love for Japan through programs in both high school and during university. Once she moved there permanently and got a job teaching English, she set her sights on finding a career within the world that shaped her childhood -- anime.

Feeling the strongest about her skills as a singer and working diligently on perfecting her Japanese, with encouragement from the success of other gaijin singers such as JERO and HIMEKA at the time, Garnet sent out dozens of demos but received no response. Her big break came through the NTV show for foreigners passionate about Japanese culture and singing in Japanese -- Nodojiman The World. She appeared several times and was well-regarded for her near-perfect accent and excellent grasp of Japanese. On her third or fourth performance, she earned the ‘wild card win’, beating out fellow American singer Chris Hart, who has since become a dear friend. After winning, Sony Music Entertainment Japan came calling and asked if she had representation. “I was over the moon!” Garnet exclaimed. “This was a dream come true because not only was Sony such a major force in the music industry in Japan and globally, it also had the best anime tie-ins, and the songs and artists had the highest level of artistry, especially in terms of anisongs. SONY shaped the 2000s for anime music. It felt like the best fit for me all around.”

What followed was an unprecedented whirlwind for any performer, but even more so for a foreigner. Garnet's debut album was released at a breakneck speed and her life was turned upside down. “I went from being an English teacher in July to being signed with Sony as my management by August 1st and then with Sony as the record label by September 1st.” She was initially billed as ‘the female Chris Hart’, and her first album was comprised of cover songs in the same manner that made Hart a household name. It would be another year and a half before her first original anime song -- ‘Spinning World’ -- the ending song for the popular show Naruto (a manga/anime she's been a fan of since middle school). It appealed greatly to younger fans who engaged in a relatively new form of media consumption: streaming. In 2015, the ending theme to Naruto was streamed nearly 7.5 million times. The song was coupled with ‘Diana Anthem’, a cheeky tune about her journey from otaku to anisong singer and was followed by ‘Nankai Mystery’ from the detective anime for kids -- Detective Team KZ -- coupled with a delightfully charming song about air conditioners. She collaborated with Joe Inoue who had worked with several of her idols and understood her strengths. “He is such an amazing artist!” Garnet remarked. “I loved working with him. He's so funny, creative and a wonderful performer in his own right.”

These playful pop pieces suited Garnet just fine. “What I've always loved about J-Pop and anisong is that they are primarily positive music, more akin to the ‘happy rock’ of the 1960s like The Beatles,” she explained. “Western music can tend to be negative and focus on the pain and sorrow, very aggressive. Japanese music has been accused of being a bit sugary, but I love it. Many anisongs focus not only on the positive side but are empowering and heroic. Now, current J-Pop is becoming a bit more like K-Pop, which is more like Western music about partying and heartbreak.”

But such fairy tale dreams can be fragile in the real world, and there were downsides to being part of such a major label, particularly as a foreigner navigating the fickle tastes of Japanese consumers. “Japan is a place that it can be relatively easy to get noticed initially, but incredibly hard to sustain a career past 4-5 years,” Garnet explained, “The entertainment industry evolves rapidly, and it is difficult to keep up with the ever-shifting interests. There is a term ‘Miha people’ meaning ‘trend chasers’, who make up a large and important part of fandom.” These ‘Miha’ types made Garnet's personal evolution within such a major label quite challenging, because she debuted as a cover-song performer and then transitioned into originals. There was a dark and confusing period of time between Diana's dreams coming true and her transformation to becoming the more multifaceted artist she is today. This was around when she got to perform at Ohayocon for the first time in 2017, during what she calls a “transition year”, and the warm welcome made her regard the convention as a home away from home, reigniting her passion to perform and sing. Knowing she'd be back in 2018 gave her something to look forward to at the start of the year.

After that, she began dabbling in voice acting, stage performance, radio, and even co-hosting an instructional show on NHK called ‘Igo Focus’ that's based on what's considered to be the oldest board game on earth -- created thousands of years ago. While it may seem strange for an outsider to have so much inside knowledge of such an ancient activity, Garnet has been playing the game since childhood, inspired from encountering it in anime. After joining this program, NHK approached her with another offer to be a part of a 60-year institution, a radio show aimed at teaching English to middle school students called 'Kiso Eigo.'

From there she became more independent and confident and has branched out in many varied ways. Instead of this being off-putting to industry professionals, her unorthodox approach has garnered her more opportunities. Garnet has enjoyed many exciting collaborations that would have been impossible under a major label. She is voice acting for video games such as OVA Gunvolt and Dragon Marked for Death (which she also sings a song for), among many others and for dubbing as well as educational CDs.

But her biggest joy is the return to music. She experienced her first shot at co-writing lyrics for the anime Meow Meow Japanese History (historical events in Japan as told by cats). It was a challenge to write from a deeply personal and emotional place in a second language, but the experience yielded her songs ‘My Life’ and 'Thank You for the Music.' She is now working on a potential anime tie-in that will remain top-secret until confirmed.

Ohayocon 2019 also brought her journey full-circle, because it solidified collaborations with two Japanese-born associates: the famed director Nabeshin (aka Shinichi Watanabe, best known for Excel Saga), with whom Garnet teamed up with for a new anime set to debut in India called Luna Chan, featuring a song she performed at Ohayocon named ‘Beauty Luna’, and the twenty-song anime mashup she performed over two days of panels and concerts with the former producer, translator, and co-founding member for one of the first US-based anime companies, AnimEigo, and current songwriter/producer for J-Pop (a term he coined in the 1980s) and anisong artists such as fripSide -- Shin Kurokawa -- who arranged the 20 anisongs just for the occasion. Garnet and Kurokawa are working on various musical explorations of covers and originals both stateside and abroad. “Thanks to Ohayocon, I have gotten the opportunity to work with two phenomenal collaborators who appreciate what I have to offer and are open to interesting new ideas,” Garnet stated.

While actualizing her lifelong ambition didn't lead to an easy access road of rainbows, this multi-layered and magnetic force of nature continues to be a history-maker, and she can serve as an inspiration for otaku everywhere who dare to dream big and follow their fantasies.

This isekai fantasy captured fans' hearts in its first half, but did its first season go out with more of a whimper than a bang? Nick and Andy dissect the disappointment of this series' concluding arc.― That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime captured fans' hearts in its first half, but did its first season go out with more of a whimper than a bang? This week, Nick and Andy dissect the disappointme...

This hit series continues its exhilarating run of battles in a volume that demonstrates the stunning impact of shonen manga at its best. Nick Creamer has the details.― Although the Hassaikai assault isn't necessarily My Hero Academia's best arc yet, it's fair to say that it's undoubtedly the manga's most complicated. We're following a half-dozen separate teams representing at least three separate in...

Todd hosts this week and gets to talk about the latest Valkyrie Profile game! Plus a new Zelda, some old Konami classics, Sega memories, and the surprise return of Blaster Master!― Hello, and welcome to another edition of Todd Guest Hosts His Old Column. This week's edition comes on the heels of Sega halting sales of Judgment, a spin-off of the popular Yakuza series, due to Japan's bizarrely draconi...

Why can't we get Netflix anime like Devilman Crybaby or Aggretsuko on bluray in the West? Justin breaks down some of the reasons why.― DarkShadow asked: So, several folks in anime circles are complaining that whenever Netflix gets an anime exclusive (i.e. Little Witch Academia TV series), that anime title is effectively condemned to not be released on home video, like it will never be released on h...

Kim Morrissy explores the legacy of the massively influential cult hit Boogiepop and Others, a supernatural story about adolescent anxieties with an unprecedented impact on the light novel industry.― In 1997, Kouhei Kadono's Boogiepop and Others won the 4th Dengeki Novel Prize (then the Dengeki Game Novel Prize). Despite the publisher's obvious faith in the novel's quality, when the manuscript was p...

This compilation film for the first half of this beloved fantasy anime compresses Made in Abyss' story without losing any of its wonder and charm. Theron Martin has the full story on what was changed in the move to the big screen.― Journey's Dawn is a compilation movie that condenses the first eight episodes of 2017's Made in Abyss TV series into a roughly two-hour story. Its four-minute prologue is...

This experimental comedy anime adapts a 4-panel manga about a free-spirited woman in her twenties into something truly avant-garde. Micchy and Steve explore what makes this collaborative anthology series so special.― Rinshi!! Ekoda-chan adapts a 4-panel manga about a free-spirited woman in her twenties into something truly avant-garde. This week, Micchy and Steve explore what makes this collaborati...

This series of vignettes might not make for a satisfying film when smushed together, but Take Your Marks still offers an enjoyable set of old-fashioned Free! adventures. Nick Creamer has the details.― It's been interesting to watch the Free! franchise grow and transform, the show itself oddly echoing the journeys of its characters. The show's first season focused largely on slice of life and comedy,...

Paul plumbs the psychedelic depths of this alternate-history superhero thriller, along with a breakdown of all this week's new blu-ray releases!― There's apparently a new game in the Fate franchise coming out this week, and I hope it's good. Not because I don't already have a huge gaming backlog to deal with, but because I need an excuse to finally take a break from the Fate smartphone game. A pers...

Mike Toole takes all 8 episodes of Rooster Teeth's ambitious, 3DCG sci-fi mecha action series - starring Creed's Michael B. Jordan - out for a spin.― Many fans of animation and nerd culture around the world revere Rooster Teeth, the Austin-based production studio that began a slow climb to fame back in 2003 with Red vs. Blue, a series of online animated shorts created with the Halo engine about two ...